“That means we have to deal with one another not arguing all the time,” I whisper as I’m in a mesmerized state.
His facial expression is almost hungry. “Challenge accepted.”
Nibbling my bottom lip, I don’t mull long because we’ve been on a rollercoaster lately, but over the last 24 hours, he’s helped me ensure I don’t receive lasting emotional trauma that might leave a wound. “Seems… agreement is in our cards,” I answer.
“It’s settled then,” he proudly confirms.
Keats’s tiny grin is errant, and most of all, his eyes promise that he won’t let me fall into a thousand pieces.
“Are you sure?”Hailey says as she hands me the bag from her car. We managed to take an hour for all of us to eat some donuts and drink coffee. Any talk related to my house was with an optimistic direction.
“Yeah. Besides, it will be easier to deal with the house.”
She shrugs at me. “Okay, just…” She starts to laugh. “Look at you two. Who would have thought… Oh yeah, I did.” Hailey seems proud of herself, and a closed-mouth smile remains on my face.
I glance off into the distance, down the street where a few kids are playing with a remote-control car. “It’s not like that.”
“Sure.” She isn’t convinced.
I bring my gaze back to her. “Would you like me to throw in Oliver’s name right now or will you behave?”
The shade of irritation on her face is immediate. “Fine. I won’t bother you about Keats.”
Holding up the bag, I say, “Thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow. I might be living at Foxy Rox to avoid facing my nearly-burnt-down house.”
Her lips pucker out. “Or I can just highlight that you are living here.”
“Temporarily.”
“Okay. Right.” She doesn’t seem to believe me. “Anyhow, you two kids have fun. I need to head to dinner at my brother’s.”
We hug goodbye, and I don’t even bother stealing a look at my house, it’s just too depressing.
When I’m inside, I vaguely hear Oliver giving Keats the same third degree as I got outside. “You two do what you want, but you kind of look like shit. When was the last time you slept normally?”
“A while. I was already lacking due to work, and then this happened.”
Keats’s saccharine side is almost too soft for me. He hasn’t slept mostly due to me, but he hasn’t complained.
Stepping into the living room, Oliver gives me a smile when he walks by to leave. “Good luck, Esme. But you’re in good hands.” He isn’t even taunting me, he’s being sincere.
With everyone gone, I slowly walk to Keats like prey as he attempts to clean up the coffee table.
Reaching my destination, I touch his hand to stop him. Instead, I set the empty mug in his hand back down on the surface.
“I’ll do that later, but I think we are both tired and could use a little sleep.” He more than deserves that.
His lips roll in for a second. “Perhaps a little true.”
I offer my hand. “Come on. We can discuss bedmate rules later.”
He shakes his head to himself, perhaps in awe that I’mdoing my best to brighten my spirits, and it’s a struggle, but I’ll try.
I tow Keats along behind me upstairs. The moment we are in his room, he’s already stripping his shirt up and off with full intention to sleep, but I have another plan. A coping method that seems to work for me.
Pushing him onto his bed, he’s slightly taken aback but lets me lead with intrigue.
I’m overcome with a powerful need to take control, which is why I straddle his shirtless body. The way his eyes travel up my body is enough for him.
